Medvedev Shakes Up the Kremlin

Igor Sechin, 51, is Russia's Deputy Prime Minister. He's also chairman of state-controlled Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company. Unofficially, Sechin is one of the siloviki, the "men of power" who often have security backgrounds and rose to prominence during Vladimir Putin's presidency. Although Putin is now technically No. 2—he's Prime Minister to President Dmitry Medvedev—he and his allies still have plenty of clout.

On Apr. 2, Medvedev upset this arrangement. He announced that eight top ministers would step down from the boards of companies that they also regulate as Cabinet members. The officials affected include, among others, Deputy Prime Ministers Sechin and Alexei Kudrin and First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. They must be off these boards by July 1 and replaced by independent directors. Sechin and the others will stay in the government. In addition, by Oct. 1 steps must be taken to remove all other top state employees from the boards of public companies.